Great Britain's Emma Raducanu managed to avoid becoming the latest high-profile victim of Daria Snigur as she eased past the Ukrainian in the second round of the Nottingham Open.
After opening her grass-court campaign with a routine victory over Ena Shibahara on Tuesday - despite failing to serve out the match on two occasions - Raducanu found herself up against one of the WTA Tour's resident giant killers.
Snigur's maiden victory at the top level memorably came against Simona Halep at the 2022 US Open, while she sank Beatriz Haddad Maia in Nottingham last year before defeating Marta Kostyuk - ranked 110 places higher than her - in round one this time around.
However, Raducanu picked up where she left off against Shibahara with a dominant display against Snigur, prevailing 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 19 minutes thanks to a serving masterclass.
Usually renowned for her prowess on the returning side, Raducanu fired 11 aces past Snigur on Thursday and matched her serving excellence with equally brilliant defence, saving seven of the eight break points that her Ukrainian foe fashioned.
The 2021 US Open winner will now compete in just her second quarter-final of the season so far, having reached the last eight in Stuttgart in April before losing to world number one Iga Swiatek.
Mission accomplished 🫡@EmmaRaducanu secures her spot in the quarterfinals after defeating Snigur in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. #RothesayOpen pic.twitter.com/In7T33aHRj
— wta (@WTA) June 13, 2024
"It was an extremely tricky match. Honestly, I knew from before came on that I needed to be on it today, because Daria is a really good grass-court player," Raducanu said on the court.
"She won junior Wimbledon and I played with her in the juniors growing up. I know how tricky she can be to play, and how unorthodox she is. It's really difficult, but I'm happy with how I managed it."
Raducanu's quarter-final opponent will be either compatriot Francesca Jones or the USA's Ashlyn Krueger, whose second-round tie was suspended due to rain while the Briton was trying to serve out an epic three-set battle.
Cameron Norrie suffers shock challenger defeat to world number 773
As Raducanu goes for glory at WTA 250 level, Cameron Norrie noticeably dropped down to the Challenger competition in Nottingham as the top seed, but the British number one surprisingly came unstuck on Thursday.
Norrie took the first set against Jack Pinnington Jones before falling to a shock 1-6 6-4 6-4 loss to his countryman, who came through qualifying and is ranked 773rd in the world.
Ben Knapton
